Directors and Auditors

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) if he will provide a table showing the number of directors and auditors who have been disqualified following their criticism in the Department of Trade and Industry's inspectors' reports since 1985;

(2) how many company directors and auditors have been disqualified from acting as directors and auditors, as a result of reports by the Department of Trade and Industry's inspectors.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, Central (Mr. Cousins) on 1 November at columns618–20.

On 31 October 1991 a five-year disqualification order under section 8 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 was made against Mr. John Wallrock, who was criticised in the inspectors' report into Minet Holdings plc and WMD Underwriting Agencies Limited, which has been published.

So far as I am aware, no auditor criticised in an inspector's report has been debarred from auditing as a result of information in that report.